Dedicated to every Norwich City
Player since 1980

Jan
Molby

Norwich
Career:

Loan
(December 1995-January 1996) (5 appearances, 1 goal)

Current
Club:

Date
of Birth:

04/07/1963

Nationality:

Danish

Biography

Danish international midfielder Jan Molby joined Liverpool from
Ajax and made over 200 league appearances for the Merseysiders.
Despite his Danish roots, he acquired a spectacular Scouse accent
and became a favourite with the Liverpool fans. He spent some
time in jail for a driving offence. In the 1995-1996 season, he
spent a loan period with Barnsley making five appearances in the
autumn including a 3-1 defeat at Carrow Road. Gary
Megson brought him back to Norwich on loan at the end of 1995
with Jan making his debut in the 3-3 home draw with Reading. 2
more league appearances followed (Sunderland, Luton) as well as
two Coca Cola Cup fifth round ties against Birmingham, Jan scoring
in the 2-1 defeat at St Andrews.

Jan then joined Swansea City as player-manager and took them to
Wembley in the Third Division Promotion Play-Offs in his first
full season at the Vetch Field. A poor start to the 1997/98 season
that saw Swansea fifth from bottom of Division Three resulted
in Molby being sacked on 8th October 1997.

He was then linked with the manager's position at Carlisle.
The Daily Mirror reported on 4th April 1998 that Welsh League
side Rhayader have made a cheeky bid to Molby offering to pay
him in meat not money for his playing skills. Rhayader club secretary
Phil Woosnam insisted this was not a stunt and that as many of
the Rhayader committee were farmers, they could pay him in steaks.
Jan was also linked with the vacant manager's position at Norwich
City following Mike Walker's departure.

Although Jan kept himself busy with commentating for BBC's Five
Live and his own radio show on Manchester's Century 105 radio
station, he could not stay away from football for long. In June
1999, he took over as manager for Conference side Kidderminster
Harriers. The Sunday People reported on 16th January 2000
that Jan's achievements in leading Kidderminster to the top of
the Conference had seen him placed on the short-list to replace
departed Tony Pulis at Bristol City. On 25th March 2000, Jan was
so angered by rumours that he was to quit table topping Kidderminster
for Norwich City that he issued an official statement that he
was staying at Kidderminster. "I will not be applying for the
Norwich job and will decline invitations to do so".

Jan's Kidderminster side won the Conference title and thus promotion
to the Football League at Easter 2000 after Rushden & Diamonds
were unable to match the number of points obtained by Kidderminster.
Jan was rewarded for his success with a new 4 year contract in
June 2000. He was also named Conference Manager of the Year by
the new Non League Paper.

Jan's success has been noted at other clubs and he was linked
with the manager's position at Wolves in December 2000 following
the sacking of Colin Lee. He has also been connected with the
vacancy at Barnsley and at Tranmere following John Aldridge's
departure in March 2001. His reputation has spread further afield
with his name suggested as a replacement for Roy Hodgson at FC
Copenhagen following Hodgson's departure to Serie A to manage
Udinese. In September 2001, he was linked with the vacancy at
Coventry and was said to be flattered by the speculation. Molby
was later linked with the vacancy at less glamourous Wrexham following
the resignations of Brian Flynn and Kevin
Reeves.

He was also closely linked with the vacancy at Hull City in March
2002. He resigned from his position at Harriers at the beginning
of April 2002 and was then approached to take over at Hull which
he accepted. Harriers though thought Molby had been approached
prior to his resignation and so threatened legal action. However
his stay at Humberside was short with his being sacked on 10th
October after just 16 games. Hull chairman Adam Pearson had set
Molby a target of a play-off position by mid December when they
move into their £43.5m new stadium. However at the time
of the sacking, Hull sat in 18th position.

Jan didn't rest on his laurels for long, applying for the Exeter
manager's vacancy the following week. However the position went
to Graham Rix.

In May 2003 following Shrewsbury's relegation to the Conference
and the subsequent departure of manager Kevin Ratcliffe, Molby's
name resurfaced as a possible contender for the manager's role
at Gay Meadow. Instead he joined fellow former Liverpool player
Mike Marsh at Nuneaton with Molby performing a part-time coaching
role in addition to his media work.

On October 20th 2003, Molby returned to former club Kidderminster
as Director of Football following the sacking of Ian Britton.
Britton was sacked by the Division Three club on Saturday night
despite their goalless draw with Swansea. Molby will lead the
side until the end of the season and Kidderminster chairman Colin
Youngjohns believes the Dane is the right person for the job.
"Some people will question why we have turned to Jan when
he left in controversial circumstances," Youngjohns told
the club's official website. "But he knows the club better
than most and we have every confidence in him."

Less than a year later an with Kidderminster at the bottom of
League Two, Molby resigned after meeting the board of directors
on 26th October 2004. Harriers chairman Colin Youngjohns revealed
that it was a difficult decision to accept Molby's resignation."Both
Jan and ourselves are united in our disappointment at the League
position the club currently finds itself in," Youngjohns
told the club's official website. "Results haven't gone
the way we would have hoped and Jan's task has been made all the
more difficult by the horrendous injury problems we have suffered.
The club needs a spark to re-ignite our season and Jan felt it
would be
best if someone else tried to do that. It was a difficult decision
for him, but we respect and understand his rational for this course
of action.Jan leaves the club with our sincere best wishes."
- Youth team manager Shaun Cunnington will take caretaker
charge of the side

In February 2007,Molby ruled himself out of the running to replace
Kenny Jackett at Swandea City but suggested Joe
Royle could do the job."Joe Royle's an experienced
man, he knows the level and I'm sure he could fulfil Swansea City's
ambitions," Molby told BBC Wales Sport. He added: "It's
not just the Swansea job I'm not interested in, it's football
management in general."

Jan is curretly working as a pundit on Danish TV. He was voted
the 16th best player to have played for Liverpool by the club's
official website.